It goes without saying that these quirky Nottingham based thrashers are my favourite band and have been for a long while now. It is however, impossible to recount the history of Skyclad without first introducing Vocalist/ Lyricist Martin Walkyier's first successful band Sabbat, probably the best of the English thrash acts. Sabbat's other creative influence came from Andy Sneap (guitar) who went on to become a very well renowned producer for bands such as Machine Head and Earth Crisis. The band released two albums through Noise Records with Martin Walkyier as vocalist, "History of a Time to Come" (1987) and "Dreamweaver" (1989), both of which are excellent and were well received around the country, demonstrating a quick fire vocal abilities and clever lyrical wordplay of Walkyier. However, before the band were to record their third album "Mourning Has Broken" a disagreement between Walkyier and Sneap about the pagan subject matter of Sabbat ensued, and Martin left to form his own 'pagan' band, namely Skyclad, filled out by Steve Ramsey (guitar), Greame English (bass) and Keith Baxter (drums).

Also signed to German thrash label, Noise Records, Skyclad put out their first album in 1991, named "The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth" it continued in similar thrashing vein as "Dreamweaver" but was much more melodic in parts. However the main development was the addition of violins to the thrashing songs which gave the album variety, especially evident on Skyclad classic "The Widdershing Jig". Lyrically the band were even better than before crammed with clever puns and observational lyrics. However, it was the image of the band with armour and swords in true pagan English tradition that flummoxed most people, who seemed to mistake eccentricity for stupidity and the Walkyier gained the reputation of being 'mad as a hatter' in the rock press.

A year later the band released their second album, "A Burnt Offering For the Bone Idol" which continued in much the same vein as the debut, with clever lyrics and mad thrashing guitars. The violins were even more prevalent this time, due to the employment of a full-time violinist Fritha Jenkins, second guitarist Dave Pugh was also added to the line-up turning the band into a sextet. This album further showed that Skyclad could vary their songs and "Men of Straw" accomplishes this, turning from up beat thrash number to gentle violin solo and back again, and is probably the standout track on the record.

Later that same year Skyclad released a six song EP entitled "Tracks From the Wilderness" which contained two new songs, three live versions of older songs, but is perhaps best known for the storming cover of Thin Lizzy classic "Emerald". Far from being a contract filler this record arguably contained the strongest Skyclad material yet recorded.

But it was in 1993 that Skyclad released their first classic album. "Jonah's Ark" saw a slight change in style in favour of more violin parts and slightly less thrashing, but it was a decision that also allowed the band to write songs that were much more memorable than before, such as "Thinking Allowed" (released as the band's first single), "Bewilderbeast" and "Earth Mother, the Sun and the Furious Host". The songs were also given a better production this time around and the lyrics (as ever) were bang on. the band even went as far as to record a spoken word poem, "Tunnel Visionaries" which offered itself as an introduction to the near epic "A Word to the Wise". "Jonah's Ark" is probably the most varied release the band ever made, and demonstrates them at their creative peak. It was going to be a difficult act to follow.

When "Prince of the Poverty Line" (1994) came out it showed the band moving back to a much heavier more thrashing direction of their early material, rather than the more experimental path they could have chosen by following "Jonah's Ark". This was a good decision as the record is heralded as the best the band ever made by many critics. Replacing Fritha Jenkins with Cath Howell on violin, the band created a very bleak, despairing album with some of the best lyrics Martin Walkyier has ever written, especially on songs like "Land of The Rising Slum" and magnificent album closer "The Truth Famine". Early editions of this CD also come with a free CD, which contains one previously unreleased song "Brothers Beneath the Skin" and live versions of "Widdershing Jig" and "The Cradle Will Fall", which makes the CD even more essential if you can find it.

By comparison to the brace of brilliant albums that preceded it "The Silent Whales of Lunar Sea" (1995) was a minor disappointment when it came out. Another violin change, this time aided by George Biddle (female), and the production here is slightly less clear than on "...Poverty Line" lacking any real bite. Still, good songs were still there in abundance as is evidenced by "Brimstone Ballet" especially, and whilst the band may have softened only slightly with more introspective tracks like "Stranger in the Garden", this was by no means a sell out.

At this point the problems started settling in, after years of stable line-up Dave Pugh left and Keith Baxter left to join Three Colours Red which was probably a good move financially, even though they suck. The band also left Noise Records in search of a new deal, which they found with another German label, Massacre. Aided by session drummer Paul Smith, their first release for the new label was "Irrational Anthems" (1996). Adorned with beautiful cover art, it received mixed reactions from the press, Metal Hammer even going as far as to give it one out of ten, which simply isn't fair. It may not be the greatest Skyclad record ever but it isn't that bad. Stylistically it is similar to "Silent Whales..." but with a better production, tracks like "Penny Dreadful" are aimed at 'flavour of the month' bands that have received press coverage at the expense of Skyclad over the years. Lyrically it was probably the cleverest and most diverse the band had yet released, and musically they even covered a famous ballet piece, "The Sabre Dance", you would know it if you heard it anyway. At this point Skyclad seemed to have contract obligations with Noise Records as they released a 'best of' compilation entitled "Old Rope" including tracks from all of their Noise output over the years. I don't have any need to own this record but looking at the tracklisting it seems to ba a reasonable breakdown of good to great tunes by the band. The only rarity on display being "Brothers Beneath the Skin" which is worth hearing if you haven't already got it.

At a similar point in time to "Old Rope" the band released the dreadfully titled "Oui Avant Garde a Chance" (1996). Originally entitled as a single it became a full length twelve track album when it was released. Admittedly this is not classic Skyclad, and the band took a much more folky direction even going as far as to ignore the electric guitar altogether on some tracks. Basically the record included remixes of older songs such as "Penny Dreadful", a couple of covers including "Come on Eileen" which is awful, and some good new songs. Put simply this record was intended for Skyclad diehards only.

The horror that Skyclad might be going soft on us was finally realised in 1997 with "The Answer Machine", a sappy collection of folk rock songs that lend as little to "Dreamweaver" as is humanly possible. The only time the pulse is raised is for "Eirenarch" which does at least have a distorted guitar in it, but on any other Skyclad album it would probably be a weak track anyway, which just about sums it up, really. Lyrically the band still had Martin Walykier's abilities to write wonderful melancholic songs, but the whole idea of Skyclad in my mind at least was to combine the unlikely styles of Folk and Metal, and erm, where is the metal?

After the release of "The Answer Machine" the band took their first hiatus from recording as up until this point the band had recorded more than an album a year since they started, which is probably the most impressive feat of all considering their consistent excellence. Finally in 1999 the band released "Vintage Whine" which was a return to the folk/ metal crossover of earlier days. The album may not be in the same league as "Prince of the Poverty Line" but it is a step in the right direction at least. Ironically "Vintage Whine" is possibly the best record the band have released since that album, and may be they will return to their mid-period glory one day. They have since finished their deal with Massacre and have been signed to Nuclear Blast, and hope to release a new record soon.

The road has not been easy for Skyclad, but they are definitely the hardest working metal band in England over the last decade, and they have released some excellent albums to boot. There is also no denying that Martin Walkyier is the best lyricist in metal, and you won't find many people who would disagree with me on this front. Skyclad have more artistic integrity than you can shake a stick at and this is only highlighted by the shite nu-metal trend that has surfaced in recent years, where image seems to be the most important aspect. Put simply, if you don't like Skyclad, you have been missing out, "May your guardian spirits be with you always".